Contemporary British Asian Writing - Einzelansicht

The mass migration of South Asian communities to Britain from the 1960s onwards has added a new dimension to discussions of ‘culture’, ‘identity’, ‘nation’ and ‘politics’. Like the immigrant communities from other parts of the former British Empire (such as the Caribbean, or East and West Africa), the South Asian diaspora has effectively enabled the emergence of a multi-ethnic, culturally diverse and essentially postcolonial Britain, whose most popular ‘national’ dish is no longer fish and chips but chicken tikka masala. At the same time, however, the experience of British people who share a sense of belonging to South Asia is mediated by coloniality and marked by xenophobia, racism and (in many cases) Islamophobia. 

In our seminar we will read and discuss a sample of texts – novels, short stories, poems, song lyrics, films – written by authors from the South Asian diaspora in Britain. Concentrating on the period from ca. 1990 to the present, we will explore the poetics and politics of multiple diasporic aesthetics ranging from hybrid writing styles to magical realism and social documentary. 

Caution: This is a reading-intensive seminar with an assignment of four novels, some shorter fiction, and a range of theory and secondary material. 

Participants are expected to buy and read:

Hanif Kureishi, The Buddha of Suburbia (1990)

Meera Syal, Life Isn’t All Ha Ha Hee Hee (1999)

Hari Kunzru, My Revolutions (2008)

Moshin Hamid, Exit West (2017)

3 CPs for regular active participation and an open-book exam in the last session.